City of New Orleans partners with LPHI on the STEPS program
In September 2003 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) awarded the City of New Orleans Health Department a five-year Cooperative Agreement as part of the Steps to a Healthier US initiative.
Through this initiative the City of New Orleans Health Department receives funding to implement chronic disease prevention efforts focused on reducing the burden of diabetes, asthma and obesity. Steps to a Healthier New Orleans, a partnership of Louisiana Public Health Institute and the City of New Orleans Health Department, is the program that will coordinate this initiative here locally.
The Steps program includes many components and is conducted through a partnership of public, private and neighborhood organizations and individuals who are interested in improving the overall health status of our city. The program is organized into workgroups, each with specific interventions related to the risk factors associated with diabetes, asthma and obesity.
The current workgroups are: Asthma Care, Community Based Health Promotion, Diabetes Clinical Care, Evaluation, Media, Neighborhood Environment and School Health. The interventions of the workgroups are summarized in the five-year LPHI Community Action Plan.
To submit your comments or questions or to find out how you can become a member of one of our workgroups through LPHI please contact us.
Steps to a Healthier New Orleans is working to implement chronic disease prevention efforts that are focused on reducing the occurrence of asthma, diabetes and obesity. A primary strategy of the efforts is to address two related risk factors of physical inactivity and poor nutrition.
In 2002 close to 1.9 million emergency room visits were attributed to asthma with the annual direct care cost of asthma estimated at $11.5 billion. Asthma is the third leading cause of hospitalization among children under the age of 15 and asthma accounted for 14.6 million lost school days in 2002. (Source: National Data, American Lung Association)
The Asthma Care workgroup of Steps to a Healthier New Orleans is working with local health care providers to develop more effective asthma management plans for children identified as high-risk asthmatics.
Details on asthma interventions are in the LPHI Community Action Plan.
Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults 20-74 years old with the annual direct health care cost of diabetes estimated at $92 billion. Diabetes is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease and diabetes was the sixth leading cause of death listed on U.S. death certificates in 2000. (Source: National Data, American Diabetes Association)
The Diabetes Clinical Care workgroup of Steps to a Healthier New Orleans is working to build a city-wide diabetes registry that will help health care providers monitor patients who receive diabetic medications. The workgroup is also developing plans to help expand diabetes self-management education programs.
Details on diabetes interventions are in the LPHI LPHI Community Action Plan.
Interventions addressing obesity are part of almost every Steps to a Healthier New Orleans workgroup. A sampling of the activities underway include:
- Helping churches and community centers to start physical activity groups
- Collaborating with planning officials to make our city more friendly to pedestrians and bikers
- Working with community gardens and farmer's markets to increase accessibility to fresh fruits and vegetables
- Implementing a media campaign that encourages and reminds New Orleanians to eat more fruits and vegetables, be more physically active and to eat less snack food
Details on other interventions are in the LPHI Community Action Plan. You may also contact Romericus Stewart, MBA, MPH in the New Orleans Health Department for more information.